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Mental Health & Facebook

sh0v0r
Protege
I deactivated my Facebook account 2 years ago for mental health reasons. I found it was a huge positive for me and I have no desire to ever use Facebook again.
So for someone like me who finds it detrimental what am I supposed to do now that it is a requirement?

I have been an Oculus user/developer/supporter since the the Kickstarter, my game Lunar Flight helped legitimize the revival of VR by showing a complete game that defined best practices by design during the Oculus Share days.

The Facebook account requirement to use certain features that never used to be required has pushed me out of the eco system. I can't visit friends Homes anymore, I can't chat with them or join their games through the platform.

I considered making a throw away account but then realized that as soon as I associate my Oculus account with it, Facebook will know who I am. In fact I can't even make a fake account because you are required to use your real name. My account was deactivated, its most likely Facebook will attempt to reactivate it once it realizes who I am which I don't want to do.

I realize that this will fall on deaf ears but someone at Oculus/Facebook needs to hear it whether they care or not.
19 REPLIES 19

Chef918
Explorer
I deleted my account from Facebook a few years ago, so there's no returning to it. I've tried in fits of weakness. 

When I got my quest a couple weeks ago, I had to have one to connect with family on the oculus platform. Instead of spoofing one, I just used my s/o account. Idk if thats an option for you or not

VR_Nima
Explorer
I totally agree.  Facebook is bad for the world.  

I truly believe the majority of all their users will jump ship as soon as an alternative appears, whether that be PSVR 2 or Apple Glasses.  Facebook needs to fix their issues with their main app or their VR products will suffer severely from the association.

nalex66
MVP
MVP
The requirement is to have a Facebook account, but that doesn’t mean you have to use the Facebook account. I had never had an account nor wanted one, but when the requirement was added, I grudgingly created a bare-minimum account. No linked Facebook friends, no personal info (beyond name, age, email address needed for creation), no photos except for my avatar image (same one as here), no activity. The accounts just sits there, doing nothing except fulfilling the requirement allowing me to use my Oculus friends list. It doesn’t have to be so hard.

DK2, CV1, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Quest 3.


Try my game: Cyclops Island Demo

wuzp
Rising Star
  1. Facebook is an advertising platform, first and foremost.  That's what pays the bills.  They want to know who you are, so that they can better target the ads.
  2. Previous studies have shown that people would willingly give up their privacy, in exchange for a perceived benefit.  These benefits are presented to you in the form of FB, Oculus, and only God knows what else they own.
  3. Everyone has the option of being a social misfit, by lying about themselves, in order to "freeload" these benefits.
  4. Getting back to #1, watch "Ready Player One," to see how this plausibly could play out in the future.

sh0v0r
Protege

nalex66 said:

The requirement is to have a Facebook account, but that doesn’t mean you have to use the Facebook account. I had never had an account nor wanted one, but when the requirement was added, I grudgingly created a bare-minimum account. No linked Facebook friends, no personal info (beyond name, age, email address needed for creation), no photos except for my avatar image (same one as here), no activity. The accounts just sits there, doing nothing except fulfilling the requirement allowing me to use my Oculus friends list. It doesn’t have to be so hard.


I'd like to do this but they'll probably connect the dots and require me to re-activate my original account which has 10 years of history.

Edit: So I made a new account with a different email, I was immediately presented with 3 people I know.

wuzp
Rising Star

sh0v0r said:
Edit: So I made a new account with a different email, I was immediately presented with 3 people I know.


You didn't do a "good enough" job of lying, about your identity 😄

nalex66
MVP
MVP

sh0v0r said:


nalex66 said:

The requirement is to have a Facebook account, but that doesn’t mean you have to use the Facebook account. I had never had an account nor wanted one, but when the requirement was added, I grudgingly created a bare-minimum account. No linked Facebook friends, no personal info (beyond name, age, email address needed for creation), no photos except for my avatar image (same one as here), no activity. The accounts just sits there, doing nothing except fulfilling the requirement allowing me to use my Oculus friends list. It doesn’t have to be so hard.


I'd like to do this but they'll probably connect the dots and require me to re-activate my original account which has 10 years of history.

Edit: So I made a new account with a different email, I was immediately presented with 3 people I know.


Yeah it does that. They offer up suggestions of several of my distant relations across the world. I set up my account to minimize what people can see of me, and otherwise just ignore it. 

DK2, CV1, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Quest 3.


Try my game: Cyclops Island Demo

I finally connected my Oculus account to my seldom used Facebook account about 2 weeks ago.

There's no made-up information on it and I don't use it to socialise in the traditional since so it just allows me to use Oculus social features. No advertising comes my way, no friends requests via Facebook, no visibility of Facebook pages.

I've started getting friend requests via Oculus once again which I've always been happy with as social VR is something I'm keen to try out... as it seems everyone who's complaining about the Facebook connection wants to do.

I was surprised to see 3D photos from 1 Facebook friend being displayed on my Quest home screen though, and there's no option to hide them that I can find. It doesn't bother me personally but knowing how some people have the Facebook hate thing going on, it would be a good idea to be able to do so. There's no advertising problem though, I definitely don't get targeted in the same way that YouTube and Google flood me with cookies and adverts for things I've just bought so don't need to buy!

But anyway, as long as all of my Facebook friends don't start posting 3D photos or their daily updates, I can ignore them. And if any of you don't want to see such 3D photos, just don't accept friends via Facebook.

hoppingbunny123
Rising Star
I don't have a facebook account.